Monday, December 21, 2015

String theory considers particles as energy vibrations, occurring within microdimensional space, so small that empirical testing is a technical impossibility. Since the experimental testing of ideas is considered an essential requirement in science, string theory, the elegant and promising idea in theoretical physics is in a serous limbo. String theory and other, highly philosophical proposals became hotly debated in physics, because their wildly speculative nature is reminiscent of pseudoscience. Nevertheless, string theory's proponents are fully convinced by its beauty or logically compelling nature. Einstein probably would approve of such a mathematically elegant theory. As he said in 1933, “I hold it true that pure thought can grasp reality, as the ancients dreamed.” However, such speculative ideas can easily spiral out of control into truly bizarre notions, such as the possibility of multiverses, or wormhole travel.

If the characteristics of string theory was true for the mind, then string theory could be easily tested. A hypothesis detailed the book, The Science of Consciousness, considers the mind a symmetric structure to material fermions, complete with a microdimensional space of string theory. All aspects of elementary particles thus plays out in the mental complexity formed by the neuronal connections of a biological system. Some of these phenomena includes the Pauli exclusion principle, Heisenberg uncertainty principle, emotional fluorescence, emotional hysteresis, and emotional fever. Surprisingly, several aspects of mental operation, such as semantics, obeys the laws of quantum mechanics. For example, in quantum entanglement observation on one part of the system instantaneously affects the state in another part of the system, even if the respective systems are separated by space-like distances. In emotional fermions the same phenomenon transpires over conceptual distance, or over time. Entanglement entails a common wave function, which cannot be decomposed as separate subsystems. For example, in word association experiments entanglement activates associative target words simultaneously and the semantics of concept combinations can be modeled by quantum theory. The contextual nature of cognition leads to unintuitive word associations (analogue to ‘spooky action at a distance’ during entanglement), or conceptual resistance of ambiguous situations (such as the Necker cube).

This new physical world view explains psychological phenomena, mental problems and normal mental operation based on physical foundation, is detailed in the book, 'The Science of Consciousness.' Find your copy onAmazon

Monday, December 7, 2015

According to Einstein, gravity is positive spatial curvature. The brain evolves in interaction with the physical world. For this reason the mental world forms an energy structure that is analogue and symmetric to material systems. This symmetry leads to an inherent understanding, which allows us to move without falling over, or run to catch a falling ball. In a previous post I argued that the mind forms relationships analogous to gravity. This way society, like the varying curvatures of a planet or star, is made up of different temporal curvature layers, which corresponds to altered sense of time. Within the inner, greater curvature layers a lack of time correspond to a constant search for survival (stress), whereas the outer layers provide the support of the wealth of time. Thus, emotional gravity is a positive curvature temporal field (the ego), because social existence requires a selfish mind. Without protecting our interests against the real or perceived needs of others, the pressure of advertisements, we would soon find ourselves on the street, begging for survival. Even-though, in hierarchic societies the rigid and impassable separation along class differences largely spares one from the consequences of unwise actions. It also makes advancement nearly impossible of those belonging to lower classes. In some countries such as India, even today, remnants of the cast system may artificially conserve people's social status throughout life. However, modern democratic societies are highly dynamic, which permits and even facilitates social mobility: the movement between different field curvature layers. Greater temporal curvature (shown toward the center of the concentric circles) is experienced as temporal shortage, or stress.

The temporal curvature layers of society

The material world cannot be insulated from gravity and gravity (as well as field curvature) increases toward the center of large objects, whereas gravitational forces are smaller in the micro-gravity environment of the space station. As matter cannot be insulated from gravity, the mind cannot be insulated from the effects of temporal gravity. The conservation of the temporal field leads to field effects, called karma, which accumulate over time. It is not possible to move to another city to erase the bad consequences of cheating, or other selfish actions. Cheating, corruption forms distrust and anxiety in the mind and initiates specific actions, which lead to adverse consequences. Over the long term the positive temporal curvature field encloses the mind by limiting available possibilities, exacerbates our difficulties and making life more difficult. Therefore large emotional gravity causes insecurity, which inhibits social mobility. For example, anxiety (the mental state of guilt and remorse) predisposes lower social status. Negative emotional reactions accumulate field strength, manifested as distrust, enhanced dependence on things and people. These additive effects often reach their peak in the elderly, who are often conservative, less trustful and resist change.

How to create a successful and happy life? The first step is to strive toward emotional stability, because only a calm mind can make good decisions based on a realistic, non-partial view. Positive emotional states are the success generators of the mental universe. Success feeds on the trust of the world, which is a decency exhibited even when no one is looking. However, no matter how much inner stability we achieve, we must constantly engage with problems faced by society, our social environment. People who work toward the betterment of others and themselves maintain a youthful, active, and dynamic life into old age. Want to know more? Read my post 'The science of karma, a case study.'

Monday, November 30, 2015

Space and time, as two of the most important physical quantities, are present in some form in basically every equation ever written about dynamical systems. In the early twentieth century Einstein's General relativity combined these fundamental fields into one hypothetical construct, spacetime, which is described by monstrous second degree differential equations that could not be solved up to the present day. Although spacetime became a kind of fixture in physics, the unification of space and time suffers from numerous defaults. Space shortens just only along one coordinate, but time slows evenly within affected regions. The microdimensions, where time resides are multidimensional, adding up to a dozen dimensions. Therefore space and time form the universe's two orthogonally conjoined energy fields, where space happens to be three dimensional, whereas the microdimensions are multi-dimensional.

Space and time allow us to consider a cosmic evolution, driven by the universe’s accelerating expansion. In string theory, elementary matter particles are just energy vibrations occurring within a microdimensional space. Their interaction with space changes the spatial curvature. Increasing field curvature imposes information content on the horizon, while decreasing field curvature reduces information content. This information content is registered as the age of material systems. Information content of our galactic neighborhood is shown as being over ten billion years old. Due to the material complexity evolution requires, only matter with such enhanced age can produce life.

According to string theory, energy vibrations become visible matter, but the material brain gives rise to the highly autonomous, self-regulating energy structure, called the mind. The material brain give rise to an independent, self-governing energy structure analogue to material matter particles. Highly structured mental frequencies betray nonlinear complexity about the energy unit, which is the mind. This is the reason that research that examines automatic mental operation, independent from conscious awareness, has exploded in recent years. Free will has been called into question. The traditional idea of intellect is insufficient when is comes to explaining personal, professional, and economic success. Social and emotional intelligence is an increasingly recognized factor in achievement. In scientific literature, from psychology to neurology, the relationship between emotion and cognition is considered anew. Like elementary particles, where the energy distribution is hidden until interaction, the vast majority of mental operation is unknown, not only from others, but even from self-awareness. Even though simple rules lead to complex behavior (Wolfram, 2002); the mind has trouble comprehending complexity and itself. The unintuitive and multifarious nature of mental operation has been pointed out by philosophers and sages over millennia of human civilization. Indeed, the inner life of the mind defies comprehension, and the laws of quantum mechanics turn up repeatedly in mental phenomena. Remarkably, the counter-intuitive operational principles of elementary particle behavior appear to describe mental operation. Unintuitive and even bizarre recent studies in the field of neurology, sociology, and psychology show mental operation in this new light. Considering the mind as an elementary particle can explain numerous, specific mental phenomena. Understanding the operation of the mind permits us to map out a congruent life; goals and positive inspirations can be efficiently reached. Emotional stability, optimism is indispensable quality of intellectual excellence. The accumulation of negativity however increases temporal field strength, constricts time (appropriately called stress), which slows, inhibits mental progress. Read more...

Monday, November 23, 2015

Happiness is expressed in an internationally understood language, elation, laughter or jumping for joy. because it is implicated with well-being, health and even longevity (the famous Minnesota nun study and others), it has become an important field of study, known as positive psychology. Happiness builds trust and inversely only a comfortable, trusting mind can be happy. So trust underlies and supports happiness. Even laughing is the result of a tense or puzzling situation being resolved being innocent, comprehensible, a relaxing feeling of confidence and trust. However, the quality or strength of trust or the degrees of satisfaction, confidence and joy, can greatly differ. The first, most basic level is money or power. These two are so closely connected; historically they were invariably one and the same. The second level is trust through knowledge, and the third is love. We will examine them in order.

The resulting differences are based on the level of emotional gravity, an emotional analogue of gravity, which is analyzed in detail in earlier posts. Emotional (i.e. temporal) gravity corresponds to the strength of connection to things or people. Small emotional gravity leads to trust, which takes things granted and verification unnecessary. Emotional gravity is generally inversely related to confidence and education level. Lack of trust makes it necessary to accumulate things and form tight connection to family members, which can lead to abusing relationships. Children and young people are more trusting and adapt easily to changes. Emotional gravity increases with age, and changes are stressful for the elderly. Trust increases with more access to 'things,' so trust is a cultural (trust is also increases with democratization), as well as wealth issue. An extensive 2012 study examined happiness as a function of financial means in various countries. Not surprisingly, the study found a positive relationship between income growth and overall satisfaction. However, there is a dark side of wealth, because the satiation 'richness' point is continuously re-positioned. Striving for greater and greater wealth is a tilted viewpoint, which always denies full happiness. A sudden change of financial means, such as winning the lottery generally does not change the mind, therefore the attachment to possessions (the emotional gravity). People who suddenly find themselves awash in money not necessarily become trusting. In fact it is often found that lottery winners are often back to their prior financial state and the happiness of the recipients also returns close to its original level. The reversal of fortune of the prize recipients probably can be explained by the difficulty or mental change.

Completion of a difficult task involves hard, systematic work is very different from the sheer luck of lottery winners. Persistent work and study lead to positive mental transformation (Csikszentmihaly) via trust, generosity (less attachment to possessions) and results in long term satisfaction. This mental state in turn leads to decisions, which positively influence the person's social, professional status and health. Consequently it is regularly found that people with higher education level are more trusting and they tend to make better financial and health decisions. In other words, learning leads to long term happiness.

Who does not follow his heart, cripples his soul; love is the most important and greatest source of trust. Those who trust, also can be trusted, which turns love a two way street. This is why we tend to find dedicated people in occupations, which requires love. Love exists in emotional animals, mammals and birds (and even crocodiles). Love will allow a bird to risk her life to protect its progeny. It fortifies the hero's determination to win in difficult undertaking. In children stories and literary classics it is love that transforms, and moves toward a moral upper ground. To love is to trust the beloved. Thus love can be directed toward God, or abstract mathematics. To love is also to trust others, the future, leading to generosity, honesty, and cooperation.

Monday, November 16, 2015

In the material world randomness is always tempered by an underlying determinism. From ocean waves to landscape formations, the combination of predictability with arbitrary elements takes shape as a fractal structure. Surprisingly, the characteristics of fractal structure can also be recognized in the temporal rhythm of mental phenomena. Thus, it has been repeatedly demonstrated that cognitive processes obey the laws of quantum mechanics and the mind forms resonance and interference analogue to material systems. Social unrest was modeled as a coherent energy transmission of a social laser.

Entanglement is a phenomenon where by making an observation on one part of the system instantaneously affects the state in another part of the system, even if the respective systems are separated by space-like distances. This bizarre instantaneous mutual determination was confirmed recently. Although the wave function of entangled sister particles cannot be decomposed into separate subsystems, the common wave function spreads out over space and leads to quantum entanglement, the instantaneous behavior of the common wave-function. The same phenomenon transpires in emotional animals over conceptual distance, or over time. For example, in word association experiments entanglement activates associative target words simultaneously, allowing concept combinations to be modeled by quantum theory.

Entanglement is more common than we realize. Entanglement is a perceived social power difference, which causes one partner to feel more relaxed than the other partner. Thus, entanglement lends excess power to the powerful, and creates boundaries and limitations for people on the inferior side of the relationships. Therefore, social entanglement has a long-term role in making social structure uneven. For example, sexual harassment and abuse is demeaning and degrading for the victim. Because socially uneven relationship can be reversed by new information, even years later, revelations of past sexual or social misconduct is greatly empowering for victims.

One person can even form entanglement between two temporal events! In the mind nonlocality includes fictions time travel to the past that updates comprehension. The moment of recognition miraculously expands understanding in time, pushing it into the past and the future. In this way, childhood memories turn into adult understanding in the mind of the adult. Analogous to the quantum mechanics particle experiment, a cemented mental reality can be completely overturned by new information. When we discover a secret, our comprehension expands to the past, the time of the first experience. This timelessness means that understanding can be influenced from great temporal expanses. Ideas in the hidden corners of the mind can be manipulated by information years or even decades later.

Monday, November 2, 2015

Bald eagles, which mate for life and raise their young together, are one of very few animal species that have some form of family structure. However the complexity of human mental abilities conjures up behavior and social, as well as family structure that has inter-generational consequence; it plays an important role in preserving culture, behavioral patterns and even social stability. In hierarchic societies families were the bastions of safety and security, the means to hold onto power, position and wealth. It was the life insurance policy for the middle class and the poor. The family could be a tool to increase influence in society, and spread political power (kleptocracy). In families not only money, but occupation and titles were handed down. Family could cushion to a great extent the individual from natural and social dangers, hooligans, bandits and local rulers. Since in difficult times only the family provided security, inner conflicts, the family needed to be beyond criticism. Individual problems needed to be well covered and hidden from the outside and nonconforming members became outcasts, who were shunned and disgraced. This irrevocable connection between the individual and the family greatly restricted personal freedom.

In democratic societies the economic role and nepotistic importance of family has gradually decreased. The elderly does not have to rely on the family, because the societal safety net provides pension, health and end of life care on a level unmatched by the family care. Instead of being handed down, occupations are becoming the expression of individual talents and creative mental potential. Young people not expect nepotism and family connections to help them. They chart their own path and leave their home town behind.

As connections and inherited finances will play less and less important role in individual success, the institutional role of the family will certainly continue to decline. When family is not a source of financial security or societal position, covering up weaknesses and deficiencies are no longer necessary; the family can open up to become safe islands of nurture and love. The love and caring within the family that flows out into the community lifts up everyone. This is like raising the water level in the bathtub; everyone benefit. When we try to reserve money and influence for descendants, it is like creating walls in the ocean. The energy spent creating demarcations stifles the spirit of those, who inherit. Posh inheritance might extinguish creative energy, the spark of originality and lead to mediocre comfort. A trust in the social environment and democratic future allows some intellectual billionaires, such as Bill Gates, Warren Buffet and others, to give away their wealth. With the increasing trust in our social world, the social distance will decrease further, and lead to a better society supported by fast paced medical and technological advances. Progress, which lifts everyone, is only limited by our imagination.

Monday, October 26, 2015

Gravity has a powerful influence not only over inanimate matter but also over biological systems. Plants grow opposite to gravity and animals maintain balance against this ever present force. Balance against gravity is so important, that gait (the degree of side-to-side movement during walking) is a reliable indicator of mental decline in elderly people. But gravity also creates the pressure that slows the biological clock: in space the body grows old much faster. Even bacteria get more virulent in free space. But surprisingly gravitational changes even regulate our mood. Roller coaster rides are popular because they manipulate the feeling of gravity. During the ride the sense of weight gradually increases, then disappears suddenly, replaced by the feeling of lightness. Gravity is simulated by an upward vertical motion. As the ride reaches its highest point, the contracted feeling of gravity gives way to weightlessness, the sense of expansion. Enjoying this transition is present in infancy. Children the world over enjoy swings and rocking in a cradle—the contracting feeling of gravity replaced by the expanding feeling of weightlessness. Even adults enjoy rocking chairs, free falls during parachute and bungee jumping.

Interaction with the outside world constantly modulates the neuronal connections (called connectome). As a consequence, the mind forms highly symmetric to the physical world. So it should not be surprising that the mind forms emotional connections analogue to the hold of gravity. As gravity constricts the body, it also affects our sense of time by shifting between temporal (emotional) gravity and its lack, negative time. Emotional gravity is a constricted feeling in the mind, whereas negative time is the expanding and energizing surprise of the new, which such an elementary need for living systems. The brainstem is a personal sensor that reacts to the temporal gravity changes of the environment by adjusting the mood. Thus, the attitude of the organism is regulated by the environment. Although gravitational changes affect the body and the fluctuations of time affect the mind, both generate an emotional roller-coaster. Throughout history and in all cultures, the transitions from emotional gravity (tension) to emotional release (feeling of spaciousness) has been recognized as pleasurable. It is no accident that we simulate this transition in so many ways. Even crying in difficulty or after a tragedy is such a process. This way, the environment intimately regulates our mood by playing on our sense of attachments, i.e., temporal or emotional gravity. Children’s stories from ancient times to the present depict this transition from emotional tension to release. The hero suffers and, the greater his suffering is, the more enjoyable his glorification afterward. Adventure, horror, cliffhangers, and suspense operate on the same principle. We suffer through every averse predicament and emotional tension, and the payoff at the end gives us the emotional release. This is also the secret to the success of the twenty-four-hour news channels.

Therefore the environment intimately regulates our mood by regulating emotional gravity. The child curiously moves forward in a new situation with excitement (this represents the energy of the new) or pulls back in worry or fear (representing temporal gravity, the need for safety). Elegant and ingenious studies in psychology clearly demonstrate the effect of the environment on mood and behavior. Lack of temporal gravity is formed by low-entropy conditions (order, beauty) and produce the feeling of satisfaction, happiness, well-being, relaxation, and the excitement of the new. Interest and the body position are open, trusting. The excited dog smelling around is in search of the new. Enclosed monkeys are willing to pull a lever to take a peek at the outside world: the new. Although the new is an elementary need, overwhelming and fast-paced information such as flickering light, strongly delineated patterns, or repeating mechanical noises lead to temporal gravity, which provoke stress and increase brain frequencies. The temporal tightness of emotional gravity constricts the mind, forming corresponding emotions, such as anger, negligence, fear, paranoia, running, freezing, and adherence to the past. Even the language describes fear and guilt as difficult and heavy. This is the reason meditation is such a powerful practice for those who experience stress in their daily lives, which include most people today. If you feel stressed, you should serve yourself some negative time of beauty, joy in order to relax your mind. Even taking a deep breath should expand a constricted soul and mind.

Monday, October 19, 2015

Evolution produced highly ordered biological systems, the complexity of the brain, particularly the incredible self-awareness of the human mind that is capable to comprehend and understand the world and itself. The widely accepted evolutionary drive toward increasing complexity is hard to reconcile with our everyday experience and the scientific understanding that disorder is increasing in nature. The book, The Science of Consciousness, introduces a cosmological view of evolution. It suggests that evolution has started right after the Big Bang as a physical process by the formation of the elements of the atomic table, followed by the synthesis of organic molecules, the chemical building blocks of life. Biological evolution transpires as a step-wise process, which can be divided into distinct and separate periods and eras, each characterized by special flora and fauna. Massive environmental changes lead to mass extinctions, which create an evolutionary opening that accelerate the emergence of genetic innovations. In the fast-changing environment genes and proteins acquire new functions and find new uses. At the beginning of the evolutionary period new organisms and new species appear from almost nowhere in seemingly arbitrary evolutionary jumps. This is well supported by paleontology; bizarre morphologies and unexpected features appearing in early evolutionary periods were often noted. But the brisk changes of early evolution always give way to stable ecosystems; species form an interconnected and interacting structural web, such as predator-prey cycles, symbiosis and others. However, every evolutionary period eventually becomes unstable. In the third stage of evolution the environment cannot support the ecosystem, which inevitable moves toward an irreversible, final stage, and collapse.

The idea of such multistage evolutionary process is well supported. Important pieces of evolutionary innovations appear well ahead of their evolutionary importance. For example, a substantial part of the molecular architecture necessary for the evolution of the nervous or muscle system evolved in advance. Moreover, mutation frequency has been shown to be related to population number! When the mutation frequency as a function of population was examined, in contrast to the common expectation of increasingly deterministic evolution, during periods with low genetic concentration, entropy initially decreases (increasing order of genetic innovations) and subsequently changes in parallel with the increase in population (an arbitrary spreading of genetic material). But the decreasing entropy during the initial stage of evolution is not limited to the laboratory! It is also true for the natural environment and ecosystems. For species ranging from plants to vertebrates, the emergence of new species appears to occur fairly shortly after an environmental or evolutionary upheaval, as reported by Hedges and colleagues.

Other studies that have examined the social aspects of evolutionary change also support the above idea. During the first vibrant, energetic stage of evolution, species from bacteria and fish to humans appear to lean toward generosity, leading to cooperation and altruism. The generosity appears most prevalent when mutations occur at an appreciable rate, which is only true for the first stage of evolution! This idea was highlighted by evolutionary studies that used the so called prisoner’s dilemma, by Stewart and colleagues. The recycling of the nutrients is gradually becomes insufficient, frustrating the population. After a tipping point is reached, generosity disappears. In the third stage of evolution, cheating becomes the only feasible choice. This disorganized, chaotic stage in turn extinguishes. The above findings defy any other explanation, but can arise as the consequence of the three staged evolutionary process, introduced earlier. In a latest computer modeling of evolution overwhelmingly show that niches vacated by mass extinctions are quickly filled by newly emerging species. Their conclusion is that repeated extinctions actually enhance evolutionary fitness of surviving species, therefore accelerate evolutionary change.

The evolutionary process is described here for animal systems, but the same should hold for all eukaryotes. Today, many species of wild animals are perfectly adapted to their living environments. As a result, they have small genetic diversity, which would make survival difficult or impossible during large environmental changes. Thus, their survival is easily challenged by global warming and the degradation of the environment. This understanding underlines our responsibility toward the environment and its inhabitants.

Monday, October 12, 2015

In recent years the understanding of consciousness has gone through an accelerated progress and transformation. However, only by establishing a physical basis of consciousness will turn this research into an established field of science. 'The Science of Consciousness,' is a new contribution in this ongoing discussion. The book proposes a new physical world view and arrives at a surprising explanation for consciousness and evolution.

In the past decades it has become
increasingly clear that classical mechanics cannot explain conscious phenomena;
quantum theory is increasingly put forth as an alternative explanation.
Consciousness has been modeled as a quantum system. Today the quantum-like modeling of cognition, such as the human mental lexicon for example, is a mainstream scientific idea in prominent journals and by well-established scientists. Also, psychology and other
social sciences for a hundred years increasingly turned to the tools of quantum mechanics. My theory builds on, and supports these ideas, but it goes even further.
I audaciously claim (and I hope to prove it also) that the brain’s
electromagnetic balances give rise to a self-regulating energy unit, the mind. This
physical entity is an elementary particle, which interacts through elementary forces. Therefore the brain does not only form a quantum-like state; it gives
rise to the mind, which possesses all the qualities of elementary particles,
such as unity, indivisibility, constancy, or spinor operation. This idea might
be shocking, unnerving and even preposterous. However, radical ideas require a jump in conceptual thinking. Although a new scientific vista generally involves
inexact details and concepts that are not fully worked out, data for this fundamental
scientific thought is amounting. For example the hypothesis can give explanation to some of the most
mysterious puzzles of consciousness, just to name a few:

1, It is very difficult to retrace our thoughts and we have very limited control over them on the first place. The mind seems the have a ‘mind’ of its own. People occasionally carry out actions that they have a hard time to explain or even regret afterwards.

2, Why is quantum theory such a superior predictor of human behavior in psychology and economy?

3, What exact role do emotions play in intellect and why are we so powerless over our emotions?

4, Our temporal closeness to events can change our conceptual vista, to the point of reaching diametrically opposite decision about a project (for example most people have great plans for retirement, but carry out almost none of it).

5, The findings by numerous esteemed scientists show the role positive emotions play in success and health, and the inverse effects of negative emotions on the same. These highly consistent findings are difficult to explain in any other way.

Understanding consciousness gives you the tools to reach for ambitious, wholesome goals and achieve them in a timely manner. It opens the book on human motivation, allowing a deeper understanding of others and the self. It is like having the first color television on the block. Now you can possess this understanding; the book is available on Amazon.

Monday, October 5, 2015

'The Science of Consciousness' details the first scientific hypothesis that includes theoretical physics, cosmology, consciousness and evolution. Its conclusions on the organic unity of the universe is a shocking idea, which started with an intuition about gravity. What does gravity has to do with consciousness? It is a fascinating and twisted story that goes back six years from the conception of the idea to the publication of the book in 2015.

Gravity, the most elemental force in the universe. No place can be insulated from it: it transverses space as it forms its very fabric. Gravity appears to pull us toward the Earth, but it is the result of two opposing forces, which operate as a seesaw between gravity and anti-gravity. The closer we are to the center point on the seesaw, the smaller gravity is. This is why flying out into free space reduces gravity, until it seem to disappear altogether. Gravity 'free' space is only gravity neutral, due to the equal balance of gravity and anti-gravity. But shockingly, our emotional attachments operate similarly over time. Therefore, just as gravity gets weaker with increasing distance, the emotional pull we feel gets weaker over time. Emotional attachments to loved ones and even things makes losses so painful, the emotional difficulty of separation is due to emotional gravity. Recognizing the analogy between these seemingly different phenomena formed my first intuition, which grew into an overarching hypothesis through diligent study and work. The fundamental knowledge base is as wide as an ocean: theoretical physics, neurology, physiology, cosmology, evolutionary biology, economy, sociology and everything else that seem to provide an answer for the pressing questions I had. During all this time the original intuition has not changed. The hypothesis, supported by contemporary scientific research, grew into a encompassing whole with intricate details.

Monday, September 28, 2015

Physical activity have been popular to improve physical performance, but numerous studies have also indicated that long term exercise prevents age related mental decline. It is even suggested that exercise improves mental function at any age. However, the exact nature of these results have remained controversial: some studies show better mental health resulting only from specific exercises, whereas other studies find that all structured physical activities produce mental benefits. Recent study at the University of Florida adds an important element of understanding. The scientists investigated the effects of physical activity that required participants to constantly adjust orientation in space, such as climbing a tree, or balancing on a narrow beam. In contrast to Yoga class, these spatially challenging movements led to significant improvements in short term memory. Also, memory improvements were apparent after just a couple of hours of tree climbing, obstacle navigation or balancing tasks. In addition, repetitive cervical traction exercises such as wobble board, put motion into the lower back, which improves cerebral fluid flow, providing fresh oxygen and nutrition to the brain. The traction also helps stretch and increase elasticity of chronically tight upper cervical muscles and ligaments. Wobble board also challenges coordination and increases the range of motion.

The exercises influence on brain activity and mental abilities could be due to a small brain region, called the hippocampus, a region responsible for the formation of new memories, particularly spatial orientation, or declarative memory. The brain circuitry used for orienting in physical space is also utilized for abstract thinking, because abstract thinking is symmetric in organization to the processing to physical experience. A habitual path in physical space can make it more difficult to learn a new road map, because the memorized mental map interferes with new information. Thus, habitual associations, mental routines negatively impact acquiring new knowledge. Because of this interconnection, new learning is dependent on weakening of old memories, the erasing of connections between neurons. Spatially challenging, dynamic body positioning and orientation exercises enhance learning by temporarily liberating the mind from old schematic associations and patterns. Non-repetitive dynamic movements, such as dance, vigorous cleaning or ball games are also helpful. Mental flexibility allows the mind absorb new information better. However, regular physical exercise and all kinds of physical movement is beneficial for the the mind by releasing dopamine, our feel-good hormone, which is important in motivation. Stationary exercises, such as yoga, reduce stress and improve mental health by promoting emotional stability.